HONG KONG: More than three quarters of mobile programmatic ads served in Asia-Pacific are delivered via app, rising to 90% in Indonesia, according to a recent study.

The 2017 H1 APAC Mobile Advertising Data Statistics & Trends report from adtech business Vpon highlighted the fact that mobile advertising in the region is heavily skewed towards apps: 77% of such ads are delivered this way, just 23% via the mobile web.

The greatest use of apps was in Indonesia (90%), closely followed by India (86%), Thailand (85%) and Malaysia (82%).

East Asia was using relatively more mobile web, with China and Japan coming in at 34% and 33% respectively.

These figures, eMarketer suggested, raise the question of “whether the mobile web can support publishers relying on the channel to generate self-sustaining revenues”.

It cited the example of Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India newspaper group, which now offers consumers a range of apps.

“We have apps that help students revise for exams, as well as a spending aggregator that helps you find where your money is,” explained Gulshan Verma, Times Internet’s chief revenue officer.

“Basically, we started in media and then headed out in a variety of different directions.”

In terms of ad format, banner remained the most widely used, accounting for more than half (53%) of ads delivered in the first half of the year.

Interstitial made up just over a third (36%), with native (7%) and video (4%) making up the rest – although there is a caveat in that the figures do not include video ads served on YouTube or Facebook.

When WARC surveyed mobile marketers in the region late last year (State of the Industry: Mobile marketing in APAC) it found that mobile display will decline in importance over the next five years as greater emphasis is placed on mobile video and mobile-based location targeting.

Data sourced from Vpon, eMarketer; additional content by WARC staff